When labels are to be applied to drug products, particular care must be taken to insure that the proper label is applied to the proper drug product. This is accomplished, in accordance with normal practice by printing a bar code onto the pressure-sensitive label, and optically reading the bar code as the label is being applied to the container for the drugs. The operator carefully sets the optical reader equipment to correspond with the drugs being labeled, and if there should be any mis-match, with the actual bar code on the labels not corresponding to that which has been set up for the optical reader, the labelling process is stopped.
Unfortunately, with the small size of the ampules, or bottles for many drug products, the presence of the identifying bar code on the label causes problems. For example, when very small vials or ampules are employed, later processing steps such as optically sensing of particulate matter in the vial may not be practical, because the label blocks nearly all of the available surface of the container. Further, with the limited space on the vial for a label, it is often desirable to use the entire available label space for printed information other than the identifying information included in the bar code.
While some systems have been proposed for accomplishing this type of function, for example, see Coakley U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,364, granted May 1, 1951, the actual use of cutting devices as the label is being applied, is inconvenient, and may cause injury to technicians, as well as posing a waste disposal problem for the cut-away portions of the labels at the labeling station.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide a streamlined label identification technique, which is not subject to the problems outlined hereinabove.